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The Colorado State University men’s golf team has competed in the NCAA Finals just once — 12 years ago — but the Rams are in position to end their long drought this week at Colorado National Golf Club.
CSU must finish in the top five at the NCAA Colorado Regional Saturday to advance to the Finals, which will be held May 31-June 5 in Stillwater, Okla. As of the completion of play on Friday, CSU shares sixth place, one stroke behind No. 5 TCU.
“When you get to this level, it’s tough every year,” CSU coach Jamie Bermel said. “You only have so many opportunities. You’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities and see what you can do.”
The last two years, with more experienced teams, the Rams have almost broken through at regionals. Last season, they finished four strokes behind the final team to advance to Finals, and two years ago they were six back of the final qualifier.
This time around, it figures to go down to the wire again. Going into Saturday’s final round, just two strokes separate the third and seventh teams in the 13-team field. CSU is tied for sixth place at 572 with Arizona State. Ahead of the Rams are TCU (571), Clemson and Georgia (both 570), Auburn (567) and the No. 1-ranked team in the nation, Oklahoma State (551). The University of Denver is in 11th place at 583.
“We’re right there where we need to be,” said CSU senior Ryan Peterson (pictured), who stands in 11th place individually at 3 under par. “If we can go out there and stay patient and not force the issue, we should be all right.
“Obviously you know it’s a big round. It could be the last round of the year, but you’ve got to go into it like you’re playing with your buddies on Tuesday afternoon. Take it shot by shot and hopefully we’ll get into top five.”
CSU remained in contention Friday despite an about-face from first-round leader Zahkai Brown. The junior matched the course record with a 65 on Thursday and early Friday, then promptly went out and shot a 9-over-par 45 on the front nine of his second round. A 9 on the par-5 seventh hole particularly hurt the cause as Brown hit a ball out of bounds and three-putted from 5 feet.
“Things snowballed,” Bermel said. “He started pressing and got out of sorts. It’s too bad because he played so well (Thursday) and finished the first round well (Friday). But it’s my job to get him ready for (Saturday).”
If CSU does advance, it will be the first men’s golf program from the state of Colorado to advance to the NCAA Division I Finals since the University of Colorado placed 14th in 2002. CSU finished 24th in its lone Finals appearance, in 1999 under then-coach Mark Crabtree.
“We’ll tell them, “˜Don’t worry about anybody else; just take care of yourself,'” Bermel said. “We all know it’s going to come down to one shot. Just do what you’re supposed to do. We need five guys playing well, then we’ll add them up at the end.”
While the team standings figure to get shuffled on Saturday, Oklahoma State seems to have a death grip on the No. 1 spot. The Cowboys, who will be after their 11th national title when they host the NCAA Finals, have all five of their players at 3 under par or better going into the final round of the regional.
OSU senior Kevin Tway, the No. 4-ranked amateur in the world and the son of 1986 PGA Champion Bob Tway, matched the course record of 65 on Friday to gain a tie for the individual lead at 137. Also at that figure are teammate Sean Einhaus (71 Friday) and Georgia’s T.J. Mitchell (68). OSU’s Peter Uihlein, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, is one shot behind along with Auburn’s Niclas Carlsson.
“I feel like we have a lot of talent on our team,” said Tway, the runner-up in the Trans-Mississippi Championship at Denver Country Club last summer. “If we go out and play our own game, we’re usually at the top of the leaderboard. If we don’t get in our own way we can play pretty well.”
All told, 16 players are within four strokes of the lead, including Denver resident Mark Hubbard, a senior at San Jose State. Hubbard, who won the CU tournament at Colorado National in September, birdied the first four holes of his second round and shot 68, good for a 140 total.
“Especially on this course, there are a lot of birdies out there,” said the Western Athletic Conference champion. “The greens are great and I know the course well. (Winning) is definitely attainable even with the big names on the board.”
NOTABLE: For the second straight day, there was a late-afternoon weather-related day, this time due to lightning in the area. Friday’s delay lasted 95 minutes, but overall, the weather was stellar compared to Thursday. “¦ While Tway shares the lead in the regional, the player who beat him in a playoff to win the Trans-Miss in Denver last summer, Arizona State’s Scott Pinckney, sits two strokes out of the lead going into Saturday. “¦ Next May at Colorado National, CU will host a women’s NCAA regional.
